YLSY:
Finding the University Is the Second Half

Almost everything written about the YLSY scholarship covers the application and the interview. That is not where scholarship holders reach me. By then they have passed the exam, secured a place and signed the undertaking. What they are stuck on is what comes after: which university, which programme, within what time.

Four clauses that only matter once you have won

The guide contains provisions nobody reads at application stage and everybody meets afterwards.

• The ranking condition. Your chosen university must sit within the top 60 per cent of its subject-level ranking in THE, Shanghai or QS across the last three years. For BOTAŞ scholarship holders the threshold is 30 per cent.
• The one-year window. After securing scholarship status, or after completing language training, you have at most one year to obtain an offer. Six months' extension is possible in exceptional cases. Those who cannot secure an offer lose the scholarship.
• Programme type. PGDip and PGCert awards, which carry no dissertation, are not counted as a master's degree. Discovering this after accepting an offer costs a year.
• Study level. If your allocation says doctorate only, no master's is permitted. If it says master's and doctorate, the doctorate must be completed.

Choosing a university: how the advisory model shapes your options

A large share of YLSY holders look for advisory support once the scholarship is secured and the university search begins. There is a point here that is rarely discussed openly.

Researching universities and programmes takes real time and expertise: reading the academic record, weighing countries and programmes, checking the ranking condition, running the admissions process. How that advisory work is funded is therefore something that can shape the options put in front of you.

Some firms charge the student nothing and work on commission from universities. The model is not wrong or dishonest in itself. But it carries something worth knowing: if your adviser works only through institutions they have agreements with, the options you get to consider are bounded by that network.

In the YLSY context a wide field matters, because you need institutions that both satisfy the ranking condition and fit your academic profile. And some highly ranked universities do not work with advisory firms at all. An institution like Imperial College London may suit your profile and your target programme perfectly, and still never appear on your list if it sits outside your adviser's agreement network.

That is one of the more important questions a YLSY holder can ask before engaging anyone.

The same applies to the direct doctorate

Another situation I have met repeatedly among YLSY holders in recent years is the difficulty faced in admissions by those who win a doctoral scholarship without holding a master's degree. What the allocation says matters a great deal here.

In fields marked for both levels, a student may request to begin the doctorate directly without a master's, provided the university's admission conditions allow it.

Where the allocation says doctorate only, there is no master's option. A holder with only an undergraduate degree has to find a university that admits directly to a doctoral programme.

That is where the real difficulty begins. Admission to a doctorate without a master's varies by country, by institution and even by programme. In some systems it is routine, in others quite limited, in others closed. Research proposal, supervisor contact and funding structure all feed into the decision.

So winning the scholarship is not sufficient on its own. Within the time you have, you need to establish in advance where this route is open: which countries, which institutions, which programmes.

Securing the offer is the student's responsibility and the window is finite. So my suggestion is to keep the field as wide as possible at the outset, and if you are taking advice, to work with someone who can genuinely open up countries, institutions and programmes.

Budgeting for advisory is worth treating as part of the YLSY plan. The aim is not simply to find a university; it is to match the scholarship you hold to the best option available given your profile and your academic goals.

Source: Turkish Ministry of National Education, Directorate General for Higher Education and Overseas Education, 2025 guide for scholarships under Law 1416; read September 2026. The guide is updated annually and provisions change. Check the current version at yyegm.meb.gov.tr before applying or selecting a university.

Where I come into this

I advise on both stages of the YLSY: the application and oral examination, and the university search and admissions process that follows the award.

At the first stage we work on which allocations match your undergraduate field, how to build the preference strategy, calculating your score correctly, planning the application, and preparing for the oral examination.

Working together at that stage does not commit you to the second. Once the scholarship is secured, you can start at whatever point you actually need support.

At the second stage we identify institutions that satisfy the ranking condition and fit your profile, weigh countries and programmes, establish where the direct doctorate route is realistic, and plan the one-year admissions window.

The aim is not to hand you a ready list of universities. It is to build the widest field of options your profile allows, and to help you choose from it deliberately.

So we can work together at the application stage, at the university and admissions stage, or across both. Wherever you need the support, that is where we start.